The invention relates to a flexible hose line having a hose connector that has a sleeve-shaped union nut which surrounds a sleeve-shaped connector part that is connected to a hose end of the flexible hose line and that has, at its end region oriented away from the hose end, an annular flange which bears rotatably against an annular shoulder of a circumferential wall, and having at least one sealing ring which is held in a retaining groove provided on the outer circumferential side of the connector part and radially seals an annular gap provided between the connector part and the circumferential wall.
Flexible hose lines of the type mentioned in the introduction, which have at the hose ends the above-described hose connectors, are used in order, with the aid of these hose lines, to connect a fluid source—for example a sanitation corner or connector valve—to a fluid outlet—for example a hand-held shower head or a sanitation fitting. If the fluid outlets are to be handled as required, as is the case for example for a hand-held shower head, the known hose connectors are also configured in part so as to be freely rotatable about their longitudinal axis in order to simplify handling of such a hand-held shower head or similar fluid outlet. In order to seal the parting plane between the hose connector and the associated fluid inlet or fluid outlet, there are provided seals made of elastic material, generally in the form of O-rings. A drawback of this is that this O-ring can become caked with dirt particles or similar deposits, for example also with limescale, such that the ability of such hose connectors to rotate, which is in any case very limited for structural reasons, is in certain circumstances entirely prevented. In some cases, such dirt particles can also compromise the seal, possibly leading to serious damage.
The prior art also teaches hose connectors which have a lip seal instead of an O-ring, and which require a low break loose torque, but which also have the drawback that dirt can compromise the seal if, as a consequence of rotational movements, these dirt particles or similar deposits such as limescale are broken off.
WO 2012/077549 A1 already teaches a hose line of the type mentioned in the introduction having a hose connector that has a sleeve-shaped union nut which surrounds a sleeve-shaped connector part that is connected to a hose end of the flexible hose line. The connector part has, at its end region oriented away from the hose end, an annular flange which bears rotatably against an annular shoulder of a circumferential wall. A sealing ring is held in a retaining groove provided on the outer circumferential side of the connector part and radially seals an annular gap provided between the connector part and the circumferential wall. This sealing ring has a cylindrical part region which extends in the longitudinal direction of the connector part and bears against the groove bottom of the retaining groove, onto which part region there is integrally formed an annularly circumferential sealing lip that projects diagonally outward in the direction of the union nut.